Inglewood’s Water Pipes to Get a Scrubbing

Friday, 20 October 2017

Phase one of resolving Inglewood’s occasional discoloured water is about to begin with the help of a specialised truck.

New Plymouth District Council will use the truck to flush out nearly all of the town’s water pipes, including the two trunk mains, to remove as much of a build-up of naturally occurring minerals (such as aluminium, manganese and iron) as possible.

Inglewood’s water consistently complies with the drinking water standards and is safe to drink.

The project will start on Tuesday next week (24 OCTOBER) with preparatory work on the trunk mains. The flushing will run for about eight days between 8am and 6pm from Monday 6 November (excluding Sunday).

“It’s unlikely that the work will result in discoloured water coming out of taps but just in case, we encourage residents to store tap water before the work begins,” says Infrastructure Manager David Langford.

Phase two will involve replacing about 6.8km of old water pipes in the town, including the trunk mains. NPDC has put $2.1m in funding in the draft Long-Term Plan 2018-2028 for this work.

An independent report found that the intermittent discolouration of the town’s water is the result of a build-up of natural minerals in the water supply pipes. These deposits are stirred up during a large draw-down of water.